ColorTyme: Rent-to-own store debuts in Norristown

NORRISTOWN — Not everyone can afford to plunk down 800 bucks for a new TV or a sofa.

So for those folks, who may not have the best credit in the world, there’s ColorTyme.

When you walk into the just-opened Markley Street store and pick out your TV, with no credit check or money down, the affordable weekly payments ($19.99) may even lead you to decide it’s time to replace that clunky refrigerator.

With 200 locations across the country and only four others in Pennsylvania, America’s oldest franchisor of independently owned-and-operated rent-to-own stores is at last establishing its name in our area.

“We continue to grow and have opened a number of new stores in the past six months or so and are looking to grow in the near future,” noted Corporate Communications Specialist Matthew Harris, on the phone from the company’s headquarters in Plano, Texas. “We look for interested investors in the markets that are open.”

ColorTyme, which was founded in 1979, has stores in Tannersville and Sharon Hill.

Electronics, furniture and appliances can be rented by the week or the month and can be bought outright as well, Harris said.

“You’re renting from us but you’re making payments toward an eventual purchase,” he explained. “If you need to stop the payments, you return the merchandise and then pick up the payments again from where you are, with no credit checks. We have a no-hassle return policy and you don’t need to go back to square one, which is nice. You can also try an item out before deciding. It’s a convenient way for people to have a new TV or refrigerator easily.”

ColorTyme, Inc. — the name was coined by founder Willie Talley, who maintained that no one needed to settle for a black and white TV when a color set could be enjoyed alternatively and affordably — is an independent, wholly-owned subsidiary of Rent-A-Center.

Franchisees can take advantage of ColorTyme’s alliance with Citibank to offer customers in-house financing.

At a time when appliance and furniture stores are often short on customers, the $7 billion rent-to-own industry is seeing a relative boom, according to nonprofit industry advocate Association of Progressive Rental Organizations.

The rent-to-own concept surfaced in the 1970s in response to consumers seeking essential household items like TVs and refrigerators without being loaded down with massive debt, allowed APRO, which noted that rent-to-own customers come from all walks of life.

The rent-to-own option is distinguished from a retail credit sale by the term “rent.” Customers are not charged interest and there are no credit checks involved.

The no-obligation, no-debt approach is the cornerstone of the rental-purchase industry, according to APRO.